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. 2022 Nov 24;14(23):5109.
doi: 10.3390/polym14235109.

Polyacrylonitrile- b-Polystyrene Block Copolymer-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitor

Ainhoa Álvarez-Gómez  1 , Jiayin Yuan  2 , Juan P Fernández-Blázquez  3 , Verónica San-Miguel  1 , María B Serrano  1
Affiliations

Polyacrylonitrile- b-Polystyrene Block Copolymer-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitor

Ainhoa Álvarez-Gómez et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

The use of block copolymers as a sacrificial template has been demonstrated to be a powerful method for obtaining porous carbons as electrode materials in energy storage devices. In this work, a block copolymer of polystyrene and polyacrylonitrile (PS-b-PAN) has been used as a precursor to produce fibers by electrospinning and powdered carbons, showing high carbon yield (~50%) due to a low sacrificial block content (fPS ≈ 0.16). Both materials have been compared structurally (in addition to comparing their electrochemical behavior). The porous carbon fibers showed superior pore formation capability and exhibited a hierarchical porous structure, with small and large mesopores and a relatively high surface area (~492 m2/g) with a considerable quantity of O/N surface content, which translates into outstanding electrochemical performance with excellent cycle stability (close to 100% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles) and high capacitance value (254 F/g measured at 1 A/g).

Keywords: block copolymer template; hierarchical pores; porous carbon fibers; supercapacitor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Preparation scheme of porous carbon fibers and powders, from PAN−b−PS copolymer template for use as supercapacitor electrode materials.
Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) 1H−NMR spectra of PS−CPDT macroCTA (above) and PS−b−PAN polymer (below), (b) SEC chromatograms, (c) DSC thermograms of PS-CPDT (insert graph) and PS−b−PAN (d) TGA curves of PS−CPDT and PS−b−PAN.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Scheme of disordered morphology of PS−b−PAN upon uncontrolled phase-separation, (b) SEM image of bulk material after carbonization, (c) TEM image of bulk carbon material.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a,b) electrospun PS−b−PAN fibers, (c) SEM image of fiber membrane after carbonization and (d) cross−section of carbon fibers inserted, (e,f) TEM images of the porous carbon fibers, (g) Raman spectra of both carbon materials.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a,b) XPS high resolution spectra of N and O, respectively, of the porous carbon fibers, (c) N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, and (d) NLDFT pore size distribution of fibers and bulk carbon material.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) CV curves at 5 mV/s scan rate, (b) GCD curves at 1 A/g current density, (c) EIS diagrams, and (d) capacitance retention of porous carbon fibers and carbon powders derived from PS−b−PAN.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) CV curves at different sweep rates, (b) GCD curves at various current densities, (c) Electrode stability along 10,000 cycles at a current density of 100 A/g. Inset: EIS diagram, (d) Ragone plot of the porous carbon fibers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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